Workshops to cover future transportation challenges

The year 2040 is a long way off, but Broward County wants to assemble a plan for the future of transportation.

The Broward Metropolitan Planning Organization has rolled out Commitment 2040, a long-range transportation study that builds on an earlier plan for 2035. The plan's public outreach begins with a series of five workshops in cities like Miramar, Hallandale Beach and Tamarac. The Miramar workshop will be from 4 to 8 p.m. May 7 at the Miramar Cultural Center, 2400 Civic Center Place. Interactive presentations will run at 4:30 p.m. and be repeated at 6:30 p.m.

The goal of the workshops is to identify what Broward residents see as future transportation challenges.

"What are the challenges today, and what do people see in the future?" said Todd Brauer, vice president of the Fort Lauderdale-based planning firm Whitehouse Group. "What solutions are people in support of?"

Brauer said the 2040 target year is in keeping with a federal mandate that long-range plans must cover at least 20 years. However, Brauer said the work would be an ongoing project once funding is approved in 2014.

James Cromar, an MPO livability planner, said some elements from the 2035 plan are being actively worked on, such as the Fort Lauderdale Wave streetcar. Cromar said the current Hollywood-Pines Boulevard corridor project is an outgrowth of the 2035 plan that will fold into the 2040 one.

Online feedback is already being sought out. Brauer said more than 900 surveys have been filled out with comments about transportation solutions.

"The general theme is that people are more supportive of complete streets," Brauer said, meaning more bicycling- and pedestrian-friendly spaces.

But Brauer noted that there's a difference between getting people to support mass transit options on paper and getting them to actually use them.

"People love to take public transportation, but it has to get to their destination," he said.

The first series of workshops will be interactive and make use of real-time polling from participants. Short-term improvements also will be highlighted.

"There are certain things we can implement in transit overall, like managed lanes and traffic signal synchronization," Cromar said.

Following the initial workshops, the data will be examined for potential solutions, which will be unveiled in a second round of workshops in September or October.